All this becomes less amazing when you consider that it took me nearly seven years to complete. I actually never intended to take it to such extremes, but the darn thing just turned out to be so interesting.....

Actually, I find it even more of an amazing accomplishment!
Do you think tools such as Objective, or the new shell tool might have helped?

Rod Jurich wrote: Question, what version did you begin this work and how difficult was it, if at all, to migrate to later versions?

Many thanks for all the kind comments!

The project was started in version 9 and was completed in version 13. It migrated beautifully from one version to the next, primarily because it had its own custom library of objects and textures. The standard ArchiCAD library was always loaded, but I never used any of its objects or textures. Hence, no dots for missing objects and no bewildering messages about older library parts.

Don Lee wrote: Do you think tools such as Objective, or the new shell tool might have helped?

Not so much, actually. The new shell tool is really just a brilliant graphic interface for things that have existed in GDL for years. And one of the first things I learned in GDL was how to add a rotation parameter to an object.

For the most part I was creating polygon, slab and mesh components graphically in ArchiCAD, then dragging-and-dropping them into GDL script. From there it was just a matter of organizing them into sub-scripts, rotating and moving the parts into position and adding variables as needed. You learn how to do most of that in the first 20 pages of the GDL Cookbook.

junior wrote:
The learning opportunities that present itself in taking on such a project (modeling wise alone), is vast... What version of Artlantis did you use?

The project had huge educational returns for ArchiCAD, GDL, Photoshop, Artlantis & QuickTime VR, to say nothing of the equivalent of an advanced degree in English Gothic History, Design and Construction. And no student loans, either.

All the rendering was done in Artlantis Studio 2. I've since upgraded thru versions 3 & 4, but it was easier to keep the Fenchurch project in 2.0 rather than rework all the lighting and radiosity settings for the VR panoramas as Abvent fussed with their rendering engine.